Thing #11

Web Safety
i have a lesson that I piloted last year that wasn't specifically about web safety but about evaluating web sites. Many of the thinks I talked about with students were mentioned in these articles. If I were to do a lesson specifically about digital citizenship, it would definitely involve these 5 ideas:

1. Search for what you really need--students often plug in keywords without really taking the time to think about which ones will work best. If they start out with a good search, and know the ins and outs of how a search engine works, then their results will be better in the first place.
2. Don't believe everything you read--whether it is in print or online, you have to evaluate the source and verify, verify, verify.
3. Use multiple sources--who ever heard of doing research with one or two sources? You should have more, and they should be of different types. Scholarly journals--yes, web sites, blogs (by professionals in the field), government sites, etc.
4. Make sure you give credit where credit is due--You wouldn't like it if someone used your idea and pretended it was theirs, so you don't do it.
5. Be persistent--students sometimes give up too soon when searching for information. Sometimes it takes reading a lot of frogs, before you find your prince of a source.

I like to have students practice skills in lessons, so I would have them practice finding, evaluating, citing, etc. Practice makes perfect.